Professionalism

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/10-characteristics-professionalism-708.html 

Overall, how do each of these characteristics of professionalism apply to filmmaking?  How do they apply to your daily work in this class? Please select three characteristics to give real-life examples of how you can work toward improving them in this class.

Please write a complete paragraph on each of the three characteristics, along with an introduction paragraph.

    There are many important aspects for being a professional. Although having technical skills can be sought after and/or needed, soft skills are just as, if not more, important than technical knowledge. Overall, all of these characteristics of professionalism apply directly to the filmmaking process as they contribute to creating good connections with other professionals and making productions run smoothly with less issues.

    One of the characteristics that the article highlights is "Confident, not Cocky." What the article means is that having a confident demeanor improves your communication and how receptive the people you speak with will be to your intended message. Especially in leadership positions, having confidence helps people feel more comfortable following your lead. However, it is important to not be cocky as it can have the opposite effect; making people less likely to want to listen to you or work under you. Additionally, overconfidence can be the cause of a variety of issues so it is important to still be humble and cautious to some degree. In order to work towards improving this skill, I could be more intentional with my speech, using stronger word choices and presenting as having more self-assuredness. I can practice this simply by talking more and putting myself out there.

    Another characteristic is doing what you say you will. By demonstrating this in professional work places, it helps others see you as reliable. It is incredibly important to be perceived that way as reliable people are trusted to do more important work and people are going to want to work with you more. To help improve this skill, it is vital to be more aware and focused on elements that make up reliability, i.e., punctuality and responsibility. You can do this by getting all your work done, being sure to show up early, and taking on more work and completing it all.

    A third characteristic which is important to being professional is owning up to your mistakes. By accepting when you make a mistake, it shows people that you can be accountable for your actions and it increases their trust in you. When you own up to a mistake, that reveals more humility and people will often like you better and would want to work with you more. In order to improve in this skill, simply being open to the idea that you can and most likely will make a mistake is a great mindset to notice when you do make one and help you admit to it. If you need a place to start, apologizing and admitting to wrong-doing in small stakes such as accidentally bumping into or interrupting someone.

Tips for Student Leadership

http://blog.cengage.com/top_blog/tips-for-students-leadership-qualities-staying-on-target/

Considering how you behaved last year, select 3 of these leadership qualities that you are weak in.  How can you positively develop these leadership qualities going forward this year?  How could improving these aspects of your leadership make you a better class leader and filmmaker?

   Reflecting on my behavior of last year, the three leadership qualities which I am weakest in are courage, assertiveness, and self-confidence. I notice that I am capable of being outgoing and extroverted in positions of leadership; however, I tend to not act confident in my ideas or suggestions especially. In order to positively develop these leadership qualities going forwards, I am going to focus on my outward presentation and the confidence of my wording. It is important to demonstrate these qualities of self-assuredness as the people I am leading will be looking to me for guidance. If I don't appear to be sure in myself, they will have reasons to doubt my leadership and feel less sure of themselves. That is why it is important for me and the other advanced students to be stronger leaders as the beginners will be looking to us.

Production Assistant's Handbook

What are the key responsibilities of a production assistant on a film set, and how do these tasks contribute to the overall success of a production? Reflect on how you would approach the role of a production assistant, including any challenges you might anticipate and how you would overcome them.

   The key responsibilities of a production assistant on a film set is to do many tasks and errands to help keep the set running smoothly. They work under the assistant director and are primarily tasked with jobs such as locking up the set, moving stuff, going on runs, setting things up, cleaning, wrapping the set, and so on and so forth. These tasks contribute to the overall success of a production as they are important enough to be needed to be done, but no so important that it would necessitate someone at a higher level or skill to do. All of the tasks given to a PA are important to make the set run smoother, increasing the efficiency which saves time and thus money. I would approach the role of a production assistant with an open mind and prepared to work. As PAs are meant to do the dirty work, I expect to have to do a lot of the menial labor, tasks, and errands around set. I'll use the experience to learn more about professional sets and network with other people on set (when appropriate).

Movie Set Safety

https://www.npr.org/2021/11/06/1052357541/movie-sets-safety-hollywood-iatse-rust

After reading the article on film set safety, what do you think are the biggest reasons accidents still happen on movie sets today? Choose one example from the article (like long work hours, lack of safety rules, or low budgets) and explain how you think the film industry could fix this problem.  How can you relate this problem to all of your experiences in the beginning class last year?

   I think that the biggest reasons that accidents still happen on movie sets today are that people cut corners, disregard important health and safety concerns, and exhaustion. For instance, the death of Sarah Jones could have easily been prevented had the people responsible for securing the location gone through the necessary steps to have the railroad be closed for the shoot instead of shooting there without permission and while the track was still active. Unfortunately, they had not taken these measures and thus caused her death. A possible way for the film industry to fix this issue would be more advocate that are pushing for change. With increased awareness and agitation, it could encourage potential laws, rules, and/or resources to be instated to aid with the issue of set safety and accidents. Additionally, better education and training practices such as certification could help ensure that individual crew members are aware of how to run a set safely. I could relate this issue to my experiences from last year and I knew many people who had suffered from exhaustion due to overworking themselves for projects such as SkillsUSA.

Adv Goal Setting

What are your 3 filmmaking goals for the 2025-2026 school year?  Look back at your goals that you set in last years class.  Did you achieve them?  Why or why not?  How can you make steps to achieve these goals?  Where will you need to look to gather help or resources? Please write a complete paragraph on each of three goals, along with an introduction paragraph.

    It's time for a new school year, and with a new year comes a whole set of new experiences. Going in, I have a much clearer idea than I did last year, thus my current goals and ideas have been shaped by my past experience. For the 2025-2026 school year, my three filmmaking goals are to act in more films, create more personal projects, and further my knowledge and learn new skills.

    Acting is a key aspect of what I enjoy, in both film and theater; however, I felt that last year, I hadn't had the opportunity to act as much as I would've liked to. That is why, this year, I can try and take more steps towards furthering my acting experience by volunteering to act in more of my peers' projects and films. Ideally, I would like to have a much more substantial acting real and resume that I could use in the future and can show off much easier compared to my stage acting.

    Another area that I felt I had lacked in was the creation of projects that held more importance to me personally. Going into the year, I had many different ideas and concepts that I was excited to potentially create. Unfortunately, a lot of those never saw the light of day and I hadn't pursued any of them. This year, with my existing skills and the news ones that I will gain, I hope to be able to create more personal films, i.e., films that are based around my personal experiences, ones that I simple just want to make, and other fun ideas that I have. 

    My third goal is to further my knowledge and skills for filmmaking. Although I always include a goal such as this, it is applicable every time. I can always learn more and so I want to go into this year with that in mind. I expect to learn the advanced curriculum, which includes storytelling, cinematography, etc. Additionally, I will be open to learning more about things that I've learned from last year as well as I've not mastered anything yet and don't expect to.

Letter to Self

Look back at your experience over the last year in Film/Video Production.  Reflect on what you've learned, and accomplished, and the friends you've made, and compose a letter to yourself on the first day of class in the beginning class.  Imagine that this letter is delivered to you on that day, and he/she could read it.

What advice would you give your past self?

Would you tell them they are going to have a great experience?

What would you warn them about?

    Dear Kyle Repman,

    It's your first day of school! Exciting right? I know things may feel a little daunting right now; you only know one person in this class and you've never even considered filmmaking before this. A lot of things are different this year and there's going to be even more that changes as the year unfolds. The people you'll end up being closest to won't be who you expect; you'll make and lose so many friends and you'd be surprised by how much things will have changed. But I want to assure you, you're doing the right thing. You'll make some incredible work this year and have a blast doing so. Acting and filmmaking is so much more rewarding than you might ever think.

    However, I made some mistakes that I could've avoided. I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to get your work done. This is what will hold you back this school year and you won't be able to scrape by without putting in the work as you've done in previous years. Keep track of your assignments and start working on things as soon as you can; not putting things off till the last minute. As much as you don't want to, it'll set you up for the best chances if you do so and you should learn these skills to prepare you for when it matters more.

    That being said, still enjoy this year, because it's one of the most fun you'll have so far. The roles you play in theater, the friends you get to spend time with, and the projects that you'll work on are incredibly enjoyable. I've had such an incredible time doing these things and I'm excited for what's in store for next year. Don't get too caught up on your failures, it's important to prioritize your health.

    Sincerely,

    Your future self

Favorite Unit

What unit did you enjoy the most?  Why?  What are three things that you learned from the unit?  What are two things that you'd like to know more about?  How could this unit be improved?  Please give detailed input.

    Out of all the units over this year, I feel that I enjoyed the sound unit the most; with the camera unit at a close second. I believe the reason for this is because these are the two most technical units that were the most hands on. They also both had very entertaining projects that allowed for a lot of fun during the production process and while grading. Three things that I learned from the unit was the ways that different sound equipment worked and what makes them good for different occasions, how to record good quality sound, and a good start for editing sound. The unit helped me gain an understanding of the different types of microphones (handheld, lav, shotgun, dynamic, condenser, and ribbon mics), when they are best used, and the settings that are needed for each one when recording. I learned how to properly operate a boom mic, how to minimize unwanted sounds such as wind, and properly place a lav mic in order to get higher quality sound. The guides at the end of the video helped to make sound editing a little less daunting and helped introduce some of the tools that we can use to improve our sound. That being said, sound editing is an area that I want to learn more about as we've only skimmed the surface. Another area that I want to learn more about is folley and making sound effects as I find that somewhat interesting. This unit could be improved through potentially having a technical assignment to practice these skills on top of the music video. Although the music video project is incredibly fun and can help with sound skills in regards to editing, I didn't feel like it captured much of the recording and editing the recording. Perhaps having an exercise akin to the camera scavenger hunt, edit a story, and continuity edit would help. This could be having pairs record each other saying a line or a conversation then editing it to sound better. Not sure how well that might work and if the time constraints would prevent such an assignment from being added on top of the other projects.